Trying Out Ebay

I've noticed how many of the fine people who sell things on Etsy (http://www.bearhollowcreations.etsy.com/) call Ebay "fee-bay." Ebay charges for everything. They charge to list, charge to add an extra line in the title, charge for all kinds of things.

I also know that some people do very well selling things on Ebay. I'm not sure art is one of those "hot" categories where the bidding is wild and crazy and people are making tons of money.

I noticed that Ebay now lets you list - hmmm, I think - five items a month without a fee. Of course there is a fee if you sell your item and it is a higher fee than Etsy. But I thought it might be fun to put a painting on Ebay and to advertise it through Twitter and Facebook.

So I put this painting I did for the First Annual Autumn Challenge on Facebook.

It is designed to fit in a 11x14 mat, but it larger than that if someone wanted to make a custom mat that was larger. It is watercolor on 300 lb. paper.

It is an original painting - not a print.

The soft muted water colors bring a gentle reminder of the beauty of Autumn leaves. I'm selling it without a mat or frame so you can coordinate them with your homes decor. This picture has it framed in a 11x14 mat.

Here is a close up of my signature. You can see a little more of the detail here.

The bidding on Ebay ends Friday, so if you like it you better go bid. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220511942158&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling

Repurposing and Goodwill

I like going to Goodwill. It helps others and I find some nice bargains. http://www.goodwill.org/

When we first moved into our new home I needed some bookshelves. I found some at Goodwill!

I also found this. It's the top to a china cabinet.

I pictured it as a really nice bookshelf.

I added some feet that I bought at Lowes. Here are the feet waiting to be stained.

Here it is with it's new legs. Later I realized it needed two more in the front.

It needed a top for it since the top was open.

First I used a router to make a lip for a top to sit on. I later decided it had to have more support than that and I added some cross beams.

I cut a template from cardboard and then traced it onto some plywood then cut it out with a jigsaw.

A nice sturdy top.

Then put a mosaic made from cut stained-glass on the top. It has some roses and some violins.

I'm very pleased with how my $60 purchase at Goodwill is now a $1,000 glass bookcase!

(and yes, I know the flowers in the vase need help. Those were bought to check the color.)

Cows Don't Like their Picture Taken

Every evening – an hour or so before sunset – the cows come down the hill, drawn by some unseen force to eat grass that perhaps looks a little more delicious in the late afternoon hours.

“Ah! A great photo opportunity” I thought to myself.

I first took a picture from my upstairs window. I didn’t like the pole in it and the camera wasn’t sure how to take the screen into account when it was trying to focus. So I slipped on my shoes and headed out to get closer to the cows.

I first tried my zoom lens. With the sun getting lower in the sky the light wasn’t very good for a zoom. So back to the house I went and traded out the lens.

Now it was getting a little darker and with the shorter lens I had to get closer to the cows. They didn’t seem to mind and were probably wondering what I was doing. They watched as I got closer – curious as to why a stranger would find them interesting.

By now the sun was even lower so I hurried closer to get a couple of pictures. The cows tried to act uninterested, but when I got close they all had to look. Maybe they thought I would have a lump of sugar in my pocket. Oh wait. That’s horses. (This is all new stuff for a city boy.)

So I got all focused and ready to take the picture. Well… my camera decided it was dark and the flash popped up.

Click.
FLASH!
Mooooooo!

You can tell they are looking right at me with the flash in their eyes.

And off they ran. I don’t think cows like camera flashes. I thought I had started a stampede! Oh no! They’re going to crash through the fence and trample women and children and cause widespread ruin and destruction!

That’s what I feared anyway. Notice how far away they are in this picture taken just a few moments after the first picture.

For all of you who live in the country or who love the country I have a new watercolor ACEO you might be interested in. It is the standard 2.5” x 3.5” painted on 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper. It is mounted on a playing card to make it nice a sturdy. You can find it in my Etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29793753

China Cabinet Inspiration

Inspiration and Beautiful art can be found in places other than on canvas hanging on the wall.

Introduction:
I have totally neglected my art blog all summer. It has been a busy summer searching for a new house, finding one, that offer falling through, thinking we had sold our house, that falling through, then finding the perfect house and figuring out how we can get into it and have our son and his family move into our house while he tries to sell his house in OKC. It's been very confusing and time consuming and draining and has used up all of my creative time.

Beauty can happen anywhere:
This morning I cleaned the glass to our china cabinet that has been in storage for a year and arranged china and crystal in the cabinet. I probably spent 40 minutes on my cleaning/arranging project.

You may be thinking that putting china and vases and bowls and candlesticks in a china cabinet should take about 10 minutes and then you can move on to more important things in life. But this is where the "art" kicked in. A good painter or home staging designer or stained-glass artist will compose a piece or arrange a room where your eye wonders through the painting or room or glass piece and is drawn into the painting, pausing here and there, keeping your interest... Good composition is what makes a painting one you want to look at again and again. Decorators carry the theme of a color throughout a room just like a nice painting. Beautiful stained-glass pieces are more than pretty glass in the sunlight, they have movement in line and color.

I guess now I need to go home and take a picture of my china cabinet to put on here.

Results:
A beautiful arrangement of dishes and stuff in my new dining room and...
Now I've got the old artist juices going and I'm ready to get some paint and canvas out. Of course I'll still be distracted by the new house since every wall is boring beige. I have many days of work to do with all of those giant sheet rock canvases!
But I really need to get some new things in my Etsy shop and I need to start blogging again, so I won't do all of the walls all at once.

Now it's your turn:
I hope you find some inspiration today and more importantly, I hope you create some beauty today. Go work on your bookshelf or china cabinet.

Mountain Lake

Here is another original watercolor ACEO that I painted after my trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina. It's titled "Mountain Lake."

Mountain Lake

After spending a week in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina I had to do some painting.

This water color ACEO captures the beauty and the vastness of the mountains in a tiny space.At 2.5" x 3.5" this miniature painting is the standard ACEO size. It is painted on acid free, professional grade 140 lb. cold press water color paper. It was mounted on a playing card for sturdiness.

Initialled on the front and signed on the back, this original painting will be a great addition to your miniature painting collection (or a great start to the fun of collecting ACEOs).

You can find it in my Etsy shop.

Mountain Lake

http://www.bearhollowcreations.etsy.com/

The Blue Ridge Mountains

I spent a week recently - well, OK, it was last week, but I was trying to sound all fancy. Anyway, last week I was in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I was there for the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference. It was a wonderfully inspiring week.

I wished all week that I would have had some paints and canvas with me. The scenery is breathtaking.

Now that I'm home, I've painted the first (of probably several) paintings of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a watercolor ACEO. It's in my Etsy shop.

http://tinyurl.com/ppzjdw

If you attended the BRMCWC and need this lovely little painting as a souvenir, mention the BRMCWC in your Etsy convo and I'll take 15% off of the price.

New Piano Keys ACEOs

This is my second set of musical/piano keys ACEOs. They are perfect gifts for your piano teacher, piano students or anyone who loves music.

You can see them in my Etsy shop.

BearHollowCreations Etsy shop

If you are new to ACEOs, check out this post.
What to do with an ACEo

The first set was a big hit and I sold all of them in a very short time. You can see them here.
Musical ACEOs

The background on these piano keys ACEOs is many layers of acrylic paint applied with a pallet knife. This gives the paintings a lot of texture and interest. Each was painted on canvapaper then adhered to a playing card for stability. Each is signed on the back and numbered.
Number 1 of 8


I only have the first two listed right now. I'll add more tomorrow. Number 2 of 8


This one, number 6 of 8, was the one Jordanka chose as her prize for winning the What's in a Name? contest here on Bear Hollow Creations blog. Check out Jordanka's blog here
BearHollowCreations Etsy shop